Agent Team Coordination

Multi-Agent Council — Agent Team Coordination

> Production-grade multi-agent coordination using real subagent spawning via Task(), deterministic CLI for all structural operations, and file-based handoffs between agents. Each agent runs in its own fresh 200k context. The orchestrator stays lean (~10-15% context usage).

Iron Law

Every council operation that touches file naming, numbering, state transitions,
or validation MUST go through the planning-tools CLI. Agents execute —
the CLI manages structure.

This is non-negotiable. LLMs cannot reliably handle sequential numbering, state machine transitions, or structural validation. The CLI does this deterministically. Agents focus on what LLMs are good at: reasoning, writing, and analysis.

When to Use

Activate council coordination when:

• Task spans 3+ files or 2+ systems
• Task requires research before implementation
• Task benefits from independent specialist perspectives
• Context would exceed 50% for a single session
• User requests: "start a council", "use team mode", "team session"

Do NOT use when:

• Task is a single-file change with clear requirements
• Task is a quick bug fix with obvious cause
• User explicitly wants a single-session approach

Anti-Shortcut Rules

These are hard constraints. No exceptions without explicit user override.

| # | Rule | Why | |---|------|-----| | 1 | YOU CANNOT skip CLI commands and create council files manually | CLI enforces naming, numbering, and format. Manual creation causes state drift. | | 2 | YOU CANNOT role-switch in a single session instead of spawning agents | Context burns fast, quality degrades, no isolation between perspectives. | | 3 | YOU CANNOT advance state without a validated handoff | Unvalidated handoffs propagate errors to downstream agents. | | 4 | YOU CANNOT skip quality gates (use --force only with user permission) | Gates catch 80% of handoff quality issues before they compound. | | 5 | YOU CANNOT let agents communicate directly | All handoffs go through files. This is the ONLY reliable state transfer. | | 6 | YOU CANNOT manually edit BOARD.md | Board is generated output. CLI regenerates it from state. |

Common Rationalizations

| Thought | Reality | |---------|---------| | "I can just role-play all agents in one session" | Context burns fast, quality degrades, no parallelism, no isolation | | "File handoffs are unnecessary overhead" | They're the ONLY reliable state transfer between fresh contexts | | "The CLI is unnecessary ceremony" | LLMs cannot reliably number files, validate structure, or manage state machines | | "I'll skip the gate check — the handoff looks fine" | Gates catch structural issues your pattern-matching missed | | "One long session is faster than spawning agents" | Fresh 200k contexts produce dramatically better output per agent | | "I'll just create the message file myself" | You WILL get the numbering wrong eventually. The CLI won't. |

Iron Questions

Before starting a council, answer these:

1. Is this actually complex enough for a council? (If a single session can handle it in 48h):

# Spawn mapper agent to create Memory Module
Task("Map the codebase and create Memory Module files in .planning/memory/.
      Scan: project structure, database schemas, API routes, service dependencies,
      frontend components, tech stack. Write one file per category.")

Wait for mapper to complete before proceeding. Every subsequent agent needs this context.

Phase 2: Agent Execution Loop

For each agent in the preset sequence:

Step 1 — Create routing message:

council message --to researcher --task "Analyze authentication patterns in codebase" \
  --context "memory/api-routes.md,memory/service-graph.md"

The CLI creates messages/msg-NNN.md with proper numbering and format.

Step 2 — Spawn the agent:

Task("You are the RESEARCHER agent for this council.

READ these files:
- .planning/council/messages/msg-001.md (your assignment)
- .planning/memory/api-routes.md (context)
- .planning/memory/service-graph.md (context)

EXECUTE your research task as described in the message.

WRITE your findings to: .planning/council/handoffs/handoff-001-researcher.md

Your handoff MUST include these sections:
## Summary
## Findings
## Risks & Concerns
## Recommendations for Next Agent
## Files Examined")

Each agent gets a fresh 200k context. Pass file paths, not file contents.

Step 3 — Validate the handoff:

council handoff --validate handoff-001-researcher.md

CLI checks: file exists, required sections present, non-empty content.

Step 4 — Check quality gate:

council gate-check --phase research

CLI evaluates gate criteria for the current phase. Returns PASS or FAIL with reasons.

If gate fails:

# Option A: Respawn agent with feedback
council message --to researcher --task "Gate failed: missing risk analysis. Revise handoff."
# Then respawn agent...

# Option B: Force advance (requires user permission)
council advance --force --reason "User approved: risk analysis deferred to architect"

Step 5 — Advance state:

council advance

Moves state machine to next agent. Only works after gate passes (or --force).

Step 6 — Regenerate board:

council board

Rebuilds BOARD.md from current state. Shows completed phases, current agent, remaining work.

Repeat steps 1-6 for each agent in sequence.

Phase 3: Review & Synthesis

The final agent (always a reviewer) examines all previous handoffs:

Task("You are the REVIEWER agent for this council.

READ these files:
- .planning/council/messages/msg-NNN.md (your assignment)
- ALL files in .planning/council/handoffs/ (previous agent work)
- Relevant .planning/memory/ files

REVIEW all handoffs for:
- Completeness against the original objective
- Consistency between agents' recommendations
- Gaps or contradictions
- Quality of implementation (if executor was involved)

WRITE your review to: .planning/council/handoffs/handoff-NNN-reviewer.md

Include: ## Verdict (APPROVE / REVISE / REJECT), ## Issues Found, ## Final Recommendations")

After reviewer completes:

council handoff --validate handoff-NNN-reviewer.md
council gate-check --phase review
council advance  # Moves to COMPLETE state
council board    # Final board showing all phases done

Update persistent memory with council outcomes:

• Update .planning/MEMORY.md with decisions made
• Update .planning/memory/ if codebase structure changed
• Archive council if desired

Council Presets

| Preset | Agents | Use When | |--------|--------|----------| | Full (5) | researcher -> architect -> planner -> executor -> reviewer | Complex multi-module features, new systems | | Rapid (3) | researcher -> executor -> reviewer | Small features with clear requirements | | Debug (3) | investigator -> fixer -> verifier | Bug investigation, production issues | | Architecture (3) | researcher -> architect -> reviewer | Design decisions, tech evaluation, RFC | | Refactoring (4) | researcher -> planner -> executor -> reviewer | Large-scale refactoring, migrations | | Audit (3) | researcher -> mapper -> reviewer | Codebase audit, security review, dependency analysis |

Choosing a Preset

• Default to Rapid unless complexity justifies more agents.
• Use Full only when architecture decisions AND implementation are both needed.
• Use Debug for any bug that isn't immediately obvious.
• Use Architecture when the deliverable is a design document, not code.
• Use Refactoring when touching >10 files with structural changes.
• Use Audit when the goal is understanding, not changing.

Memory Module

The Memory Module lives in .planning/memory/ and provides codebase intelligence to every agent.

Files

| File | Contains | |------|----------| | codebase-map.md | Project structure, key directories, entry points | | database-schemas.md | Tables, relationships, migrations | | api-routes.md | Endpoints, methods, auth requirements | | service-graph.md | Service dependencies, data flow | | frontend-map.md | Components, pages, state management | | tech-stack.md | Languages, frameworks, versions, tooling |

Rules

• Created by mapper agent at council start if missing
• Refreshed if >48 hours old
• Passed to each agent as context file paths
• Updated after council if codebase structure changed
• Not every file is needed — pass only relevant ones to each agent

Quality Gates

Gates are checked by the CLI, not by LLM judgment.

| Transition | Gate Criteria | |------------|--------------| | Research -> Design | Findings documented, risks identified, alternatives compared | | Design -> Planning | Architecture documented, interfaces defined, breaking changes noted | | Planning -> Execution | Tasks are atomic ( Review | All tasks addressed, tests pass, no unresolved TODOs | | Review -> Complete | Critical issues resolved, Memory Module updated if needed |

Orchestrator Guidelines

The orchestrator (you, the main session) must stay lean:

• DO read handoffs to understand progress
• DO use CLI commands for all structural operations
• DO pass file paths to agents, not file contents
• DO keep your own context under 15% — let agents do the heavy lifting
• DON'T do agent work yourself — spawn a Task()
• DON'T hold agent outputs in your context — they're in files
• DON'T manually create or edit any file in .planning/council/

Spawning Agents Effectively

Good agent prompt structure:

Task("You are the [ROLE] agent for this council.

READ: [list of file paths]
EXECUTE: [clear description of what to do]
WRITE: [exact output file path]
FORMAT: [required sections in output]")

Bad agent prompt:

Task("Look at the codebase and figure out what needs to happen for auth.")

Be specific. Agents have fresh contexts — they know nothing except what you tell them.

Red Flags

Stop and reassess if you observe:

| Red Flag | What's Wrong | |----------|-------------| | Single session handling multiple agent roles | You're role-switching, not spawning. Quality will degrade. | | Manual file creation in .planning/council/ | CLI exists for a reason. State will drift. | | No handoff validation between agents | Garbage in, garbage out. Validate before advancing. | | Orchestrator context >50% | You're doing agent work. Spawn instead. | | Agents referencing work without file paths | Hallucination risk. Always pass explicit paths. | | Skipping gate checks | You're trusting vibes over structure. | | BOARD.md manually edited | Board is generated output. Use council board. |

Error Recovery

| Issue | Recovery | |-------|----------| | Agent produces empty/garbage handoff | Respawn with clearer instructions and more context files | | Gate check fails | Read failure reason, fix handoff or --force with user permission | | STATE.md corrupted | council init --recover rebuilds from handoffs/ and messages/ | | Memory Module stale | Spawn mapper agent to refresh before continuing | | Agent stuck on wrong task | New routing message with correction, respawn agent | | Council objective changed mid-flight | council update --objective "new objective", reassess remaining agents |

Integration

• Uses: persistent-memory (Memory Module creation and updates), systematic-debugging (debug preset), codebase-mapping (mapper agent)
• Feeds into: executing-plans (executor agent output), verification-before-completion (reviewer agent output)
• CLI dependency: planning-tools must be available for all council commands

Quick Reference

# Full lifecycle
council init --preset rapid --objective "Add rate limiting to API"
council message --to researcher --task "..." --context "memory/api-routes.md"
# [spawn researcher via Task()]
council handoff --validate handoff-001-researcher.md
council gate-check --phase research
council advance
council board
council message --to executor --task "..." --context "memory/api-routes.md,handoffs/handoff-001-researcher.md"
# [spawn executor via Task()]
council handoff --validate handoff-002-executor.md
council gate-check --phase execution
council advance
council board
council message --to reviewer --task "..." --context "handoffs/"
# [spawn reviewer via Task()]
council handoff --validate handoff-003-reviewer.md
council gate-check --phase review
council advance
council board
# Done — update MEMORY.md with outcomes

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: boparaiamrit
• Source: boparaiamrit/skills-by-amrit
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.